I was poking around on a discussion in one of my linked in groups and this interesting question came up;

"Does CRM 2.0 have the same meaning or definition of social CRM?

What are the major challenges facing social implementation? and what factors may influence the customers to use social CRM?"

My first response was... I think this will depend on the size and dynamic of the organization. The needs and complications involved for a smaller business will be much different than a larger enterprise.

After thinking more about this, in a sense Social CRM is replacing CRM 2.0 since you will need to engage in social media as part of your customer engagement. I just attended a "Social CRM gathering in Boston called "The Rock Stars of Social CRM " it had folks like Paul Greenberg (Author of CRM at the speed of light) on the panel. At the end they were asked is social CRM is the right term and the just of the point was it does not matter what you call it but essentially you are going to need to engage and communicate with your customer the way they want to be communicated to and with the tools they are comfortable with since they are now in charge of the transaction engagement. The vendors job is really about getting down to the basics of good old fashion customer service.

Do we need a new acronym?

The term I am tossing out to the community for discussion is "Customer Conversation Management". If we need a new acronym, I think this fits more appropriately since all good relationships require listening as well as communication and the relationship and responsiveness is key to achieve the loyalty and trust required to ask for your customers business.

Principles of CRM remain the same

I think the basic principles in good relationship and conversational communication are important skills that have to transcend an organization. If any conversation is one way and not interactive someone usually gets frustrated and walks away. It will be even more important to master this skill moving forward since you not only need to grow quality relationships that are based on trust but you will have to build more of them. Since all of your customers will be able to communicate with each other you also can not afford to make mistakes or let negative conversations go un answered.

It will be intersting to see the next generation of technologies designed to help us mange these Social-Business relationships. However, if you are not a good messenger and can not connect at some reasonable level as a good  listener in a two way conversation these tools will do little for you.

I am interested in your comments. Is there a new acronym warranted for the new wave of "Social CRM" or do you think this all just falls under CRM?